Marketing

Way back in October of 2009 I wrote an article entitled “Is Twitter the New Film Critic?” I now know the answer to that question is “yes.” My theory was that with so many people talking about movies on Twitter it may be possible to assess the success or failure of a film based on film-goers opinions. Twitter commentary could feasibly act as a barometer for new releases and be the best movie critic to date.

I’m kicking myself for not acting on that idea because now someone beat me to the punch. TechCrunch brings word of a new site called fflick; a movie “review” site that taps into Twitter and determines how well films are trending on the social site by analyzing how often the film is mentioned:

“…you’ll find the Positive and Negative tweets, which display a list of tweets that the site has automatically categorized using its sentiment engine. After looking through a handful of movies, I found that the system was pretty good at identifying both negative and positive tweets, though there were occasionally some tweets that were only mentioning a film in passing or were mis-categorized.”

Having gone through some of the current film ratings myself on fflick I have to say the site reflected what I would consider to be the true sentiment regarding a particular film. The way in which this process works is not unlike movie review site Rotten Tomatoes.

We’re all pretty big fans places and things where technology and Hollywood meet, so we felt it was pretty necessary to bring attention to this brand new mobile app from Best Buy. It’s called Movie Mode, and it’s a new way to enjoy films in the theaters, starting with this Friday’s release of Despicable Me.

The app syncs directly with the audio of the film, and will enhance the experience by giving you a little something to do during the end credits, aside from waiting for the expected post-credits sequence. From a Best Buy:

Available as a free download, Best Buy Movie Mode comes to life via “The Minionator,” created as part of an exclusive collaboration with Universal Pictures and tied to the July 9 release of its must-see RealD 3-D CGI feature “Despicable Me” produced by Chris Meledandri.

“The Minionator” is Movie Mode’s first film enhancing experience and offers fans a deeper connection to “Despicable Me” by translating for audiences what the film’s mischievous little yellow characters, the Minions, are saying. The app acts as a translator during the 3-D theatrical end credits for the special language of the Minions. The app will also translate the Minion language throughout the entire movie on Best Buy’s exclusive “Despicable Me” DVD released later this year.

If like me, you have survived the onslaught of witty repartee between Iron Man and War Machine, time standing still in Robin Hood, and the hot mess of CGI and Jake Gyllenhaal in Prince of Persia then you are ready for what awaits you in June. Make no mistake, you may not have the monster in Manolo’s, otherwise known as Carrie Bradshaw, to suffer through but you do have a mêlée of 80’s rehashes that studios happily throw money at.

So, suit up, grab your popcorn, and prepare yourself for the next adventure that await you.

JUNE

June 4th

Ondine

Were you expecting a description of The A Team perhaps? At this point, anyone who is seeing The A Team on Friday already has their tickets, and even my words of wisdom will be unable to stop them. Instead I’ll spotlight a film that deserves attention.

Ondine is an independent film starring Colin Farrell as a fisherman who pulls up a beautiful woman in his nets. His sick, precocious daughter believes she is a Selkie, a Scottish seal who becomes a human wife on land. Time will tell if she is really as she seems.

Geekiness Factor: As a fairytale set in the modern era, it combines Splash and Heroes with a dose of romanticism and second chances. This movie works because it doesn’t use CGI, in fact the only special effects it uses comes from your very own imagination in overdrive. Its sense of wonder on faith, entrances you back to a time when you still believed in Santa Claus.

Screen Steamer: Colin Farrell has served me a heap of B movie bad boy charm in past films like The Recruit, S.W.A.T., not to mention a harmonious turn in Crazy Heart. Here he takes off his shirt only once, but seems well cast as a fisherman down on his luck and striving to be sober. Alicja Bachleda keeps you guessing as Ondine, which means “from the water.” She is alluring with a subtle sensuality in ocean soaked dresses, only coming up for air to coyly flirt with a scruffy Colin.

There’s no denying the success and appeal of the first Star Wars: The Force Unleashed game. It quickly rose to be the highest selling Star Wars franchise game ever and was universally praised for its high quality visuals and exciting gameplay. At the Spike VGAs, the first trailer was released for the game’s sequel, aptly named Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2. But since the VGAs, news of the game has been sparse.

Lucas Arts has recently launched the game’s website which looks to take the viral route to promote the game. Connecting to Facebook, visitors can track the progress of Subject 1157 from inside his bacta tank, listening to audio logs and playing games to help uncover memories of Vader’s former apprentice.

Some notable questions come up through exploring the site. First and foremost is how the two games will be tied together, especially since there were two drastically different endings to choose from at the end of the first ForceUnleashed and the aftermaths these lead to for the apprentice. Next comes the question of the dual lightsabers.

While we have seen this done in the past, these lightsabers are shown to be blue while traditionally within Star Wars, the Sith only use red. Does this mean the apprentice is no longer a pawn of the Dark Side? Finally, keep your ears tuned to the audio clue at the end of the trailer when a very familiar voice gives a foreboding warning to those who dare traverse down this game’s dark past.

Star Wars: the Force Unleashed 2 hits stores on October 26th, 2010. Check out all the pics and video after the jump.

Back in 2006, Apple ran the first of many different variations of “friendly warfare” commercials, which pretty much portrayed the competition (Microsoft) as a nerdy, uncool, unorganized human (played by John Hodgman), while the “Mac” was a cool, casual, suave human (played by Justin Long).

After four years the aptly titled “Get a Mac” ad campaign is coming to an end. Apple’s site has changed over to the “Why You’ll Love a Mac” page, and Justin Long even suggested a few months back that the ads were starting to dry up and he didn’t see them continuing much longer.

Losing their edge or not, it was always a treat for Apple fans to get these ads sandwiched into spot breaks between our favorite shows. Hodgman, who was also a regular contributor to The Daily Show, garnered certain fame from the campaign and has even been invited to give commencement speeches at several universities.

We’ll always remember the epic promotional campaign, and some of our favorites as well. After the jump, check out one of those personal favorites, guest starring the amazing Rowan Atkinson as Mr. Bean.

With all the movies coming out these days its easy to get lost in all the promotions by the studios. In an effort to get audiences interested in their particular film, they often deluge potential movie goers with a whole bunch of promotional stuff that due to the sheer amount, is often overlooked or just plain ignored. Sometimes, however, something comes along that’s kinda fun and deserves a bit of attention.

One such promotional tie-in is Universal’s current Get Him to the Greek song contest. To enter is simple, especially for all you budding rockstars out there.

Just record your cover version of Infant Sorrow’s (Russel Brand’s fictional band in the film) hit song “Bangers, Beans & Mash” and enter for a chance to win a trip to the world premiere of Get Him to the Greek at L.A.’s famous Greek Theatre. 20 runners-up will win limited edition Infant Sorrow merchandise, so don’t feel bad.

Get Him to the Greek features Jonah Hill and Russell Brand and is directed by Forgetting Sarah Marshall‘s Nicholas Stoller. It tells the story of a record company executive (Hill) with three days to drag an uncooperative rock legend (Brand) to Hollywood for a comeback concert. It also stars Sean Combs, Elisabeth Moss, Rose Byrne and Colm Meaney. It hits theaters June 4.

Everyone knows the drill when a new comic book movie comes out. The market gets flooded with the standard promotional tie-in products. There’s an influx of new comics featuring the title character hitting the shelves.

A new line of toys based on the movie and its characters are sure to come out. And let’s not forget the comic book turned movie turned video game which is sure to come out as well.

After these standards, any other product that can be thought of from breakfast cereal to t-shirts to birthday favors becomes fair game. Instead of sticking to the cheap themes that most movies go for to make a quick buck, IronMan 2 has decided to step it up a notch. Pairing up with high end clothing and accessory brand Diesel, they will be releasing the Only The Brave Limited-Edition Iron Man 2 Eau de Toilette Spray.

Now, while every comic book fanboy out there wants to smell like Tony Stark, we regret to inform you that this limited edition does not smell like motor oil and cheap bourbon. Instead it is a simple repainting of Diesel’s current Only The Brave cologne bottle.

The scent is described as ” Top notes of modern leather contrast with the fresh aroma of sparkling lemon and the warmth of amber and cedar in Only The Brave, a masculine fragrance that epitomizes determination and bravery.” So while it lacks the boozehound smell, it does resemble what everyone pictures in Tony Stark.

Somebody must have brought the idea of viral marketing to Disney executives last year because they have been coming out of the woodwork with some pretty impressive new strategies. They started with Tron Legacy last year at San Diego Comic-Con with the exclusive “Flynn’s Arcade” party, which opened up into a huge crowd of gaming and film fans alike.

Now, they’re getting a bit deeper into the world of Tron, as a fake campaign has begun for the release of “Space Paranoids Online”, one of the original games created by Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) and ENCOM, the character and company from the original Tron film.

The trailer also leads fans back to EncomInternational.com, which is a neat viral site used to show off the films fictitious evil company. You can tell from the site that the film’s main plot is that ENCOM plans to integrate the world into their video game universe, much like in the original film.

Check out the trailer for “Space Paranoids Online” after the jump, and be sure to catch Tron Legacy in theaters and IMAX 3D on December 17th.

Anyone who has been reading “X-Men: Second Coming” knows there are some HUGE changes in store for Marvel’s band of merry mutants. X-Men are crossing lines they never thought they would have to and it’s obvious that not everyone is going to be making it out of this event alive.

Not that it’s a spoiler, but we do know that in the end, the X-Men will survive the event of Second Coming but it looks like not only the team, but the entire concept of the word X-Men will be changing forever.

For the past week, Marvel has been rolling out promotional images, in a similar vein to their “I’m an Avenger” campaign showing off the new roster of the X-Men. Some of them are expected (pending they survive Second Coming) like Magneto and Gambit.

Others seem to come totally out of left field like Blade, Spider-Man and the Savage She-Hulk, all non-mutants. Take a look below at the images along with some added insight from Marvel editor Nick Lowe about these new X-Men.

Stan Lee has undoubtedly had a pretty amazing career, going as far back as the days of the Marvel Bullpen. He has the mantle of creating some of the world’s most beloved and well-known characters, as well as the impressive feat of still being alive to see them come to visual fruition in the form of big-budget films.

Though he may have had a bit of a lover’s quarrel with Marvel a few years back, they seemed to have made up, and Stan has been making the rounds in just about every Marvel film dating back to Spider-Man. In just the world of Iron Man alone, “The Man” has played Hugh Hefner, Larry King, and in a brand new spot for Dr. Pepper, a janitor at Tony Stark’s house.

The spot is pretty funny, but for those who aren’t laughing, you still get a look at Stark’s array of Iron Man costumes (including what looks to be the classic “Secret Wars” armor), as well as the voice of Paul Bettany as Jarvis.

Check out the spot after the jump, and be sure to catch Iron Man 2 in theaters and IMAX on May 7th.